Cracking Glass
by KannaKyomu
Summary: "Curious," He murmured taking a few steps towards where she stood, "Time travel, as I recall. Curious that I should remember such a thing now, when only moments before I knew you only as the girl I had met in the hall." In which Hermione learns that books aren't just for transporting the imagination, and that even good little boys can grow up into something else entirely. Prequel.


AN: A few quick notes before we begin here. This is my first attempt at either one of these fandoms so please forgive me if I got anything incorrect.

I really have been wanting to write a one shot lately but I have to say I'm a little disappointed with the way the pacing for this fic came out. I could easily see this oneshot becoming another one of my 100k monsters and it was difficult to get the character development i wanted in only so many words. So this is how it came out and I hope y'all like it. It's fast paced and it reads quickly. Maybe someday I'll pull this down and rewrite it like I want to, nice and stupid long with lots of character development and friendship bonding like it should be.

I wanted to point out that the category is Harry Potter/Avengers even though this mostly takes place in the Thor universe, and that's because this one shot is going to segway into another fic that will include the Avengers as a whole. Call this a back story one-shot if you will. I'm unsure right now if it's gunna be another quick fic or a chapter story yet but we'll see. I think the reviewers for my other fics might eat me alive if I try to start another chapter story.

So without any further ado, please read, enjoy and review:

Cracking Glass

"Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved." -Winnie the Pooh

* * *

Hermione loved books. It one of the most well known and basic aspects of her personality. Ask anyone, even her… less friendly acquaintances (to put it kindly) and they would tell you. 'Oh yes, of course. Hermione the bookworm.'

Even when it was put as an insult she didn't really care. Because that's just how it was.

Hermione loved books.

She spent most of her available free time in the library, surrounded by the familiar shelves clustered tightly together. Maybe it was the smell of aging paper and dust, or the familiar sight of neat rows of richly colored covers tucked snugly between each other. Maybe it was the promise of something more inside those covers.

She could have the whole world inside a book. She could have the whole world and more. This was her comfort zone, where she felt most at peace (with the exception of exam season) where she felt the most secure in all of the splendor Hogwarts had to offer.

So, suffice to say it was a bit of a surprise when for the first time opening a book became something dangerous instead of comforting.

It was just supposed to be a little side project. Well- really it was more like she had the extra time now that her third year was coming to a close and she had gotten side tracked off another side tracked project.

It had all started with Sirius's name. She knew it was a star, but the lack of anything further had itched at her, and well, she had free time. The book titled ' _Alpha Canis Majoris: The Gateway to Better Understanding of Star Patterns in Potion Making_ ' had been an interesting read to start with but had soon segwayed into ' _The Ancients and You, Divergent Star Movements_ ' a book detailing how different the night sky is from centuries ago and how this affected current day use of stars versus, say, their use to the ancient Greeks, or Nords.

Which had let her into ancient mythology. She scoured the top row of a well traversed section for a solid fifteen minutes before giving up; the book she wanted just wasn't where it was supposed to be.

She swiped a finger through the thick layer of dust in the space where her chosen book should be, a frustrated sigh trapped behind her teeth.

Hermione hadn't realized how late it was until her quest to ask Madam Pince was just as fruitless as the search for the book on Norse Mythology that she was wanting. She bit her lip contemplating her options in the quiet library. She could leave, come back tomorrow… or…

Her eyes slid to the restricted section over the top of the log out counter; which she did have limited access to courtesy of Professor Mcgonagall this year thanks to her extra class load.

It couldn't hurt, right?

She never did find the book she had originally been looking for. Instead, tucked into a far corner just _below_ the one shelf she was _allowed_ to look through, she found a deep red leather bound book with gold leaf pages.

' _Magics of Asgard'_ The cover read.

Maybe Harry's trouble making was rubbing off on her. Maybe she was too stubborn for her own good, but she knew something was wrong the moment the book in her hands discharged an arch of light that felt like sticking a finger in an electrical outlet that made her already frizzy hair further defy gravity.

She let go of the book with an undignified yelp and the time turner that innocuously hung around her neck made a strange _pink_ sound. Like cracking glass.

The book hit the floor at her feet with a muted _whump_ against the carpet. It fell open, pages slipping onto either side of the cover until it settled, but no one was there to actually read it.

The magical book shut itself a moment later.

* * *

Hermione blinked, and found herself no longer among the dusty crowded shelves of Hogwarts library; Instead she was in a hallway. A slightly humid and warm hallway, that was comparatively much too bright, and definitely very _foreign._

A split second later found the young witch armed with ten and three quarters worth of vine wood and dragon heartstring wand. She backed up into a wall her shoulder brushing the edges of a thick fabric banner. Her heart thundered in her chest, her pulse moving too quickly for comfort and she blinked against the harsh light.

Hermione had never apparated before, and she had only ever read about portkeys but as far as she knew, magical travel was usually accompanied by some kind of sensation. Some effect the magic had on the body because spells were hardly ever seamless. It wasn't supposed to be 'blink and you are there.'

Besides, all she'd done was touch a book.

Maybe the book had been a portkey? Some kind of improved version of a portkey that allowed for smoother travel? But then, why would it be in the restricted section of the library?

"That doesn't make sense." She breathed quietly to no one.

The hallway she found herself in was made of gold, with red banners adorning walls that stretched so high the ceiling was shadowed. Down either way, the hall appeared to continue on without turning, the same bright gaudy gold only broken by the hanging red cloth that billowed and waved in some places despite the lack of a breeze. The temperature was nothing like the cool steady environment of the library, where things were kept at a constant with numerous spells least the books become damaged. This hallway was like standing in a still-cooling sauna. Hermione was starting to flush already in her school uniform and robes, and distractedly she moved to lift her heavy curls from the back of her neck with her wand free hand.

This was not Hogwarts. Not at all. The magic here was like trying to compare thestrals to ghosts. They were in the same book but they were in completely different chapters. Hogwarts felt old, yes, but in comparison the feeling of this places was positively ancient. Ancient and powerful with enough of a foreign feel to make her skin crawl and the back of her mind scream _wrong! All wrong! Danger!_

The magic to this place had an almost violent quality to it, and her instincts told her _nothing good will come of this._ Hermione did not belong here. Her fingers tightened around her wand, and she hesitated only a moment longer before she sprinted down the corridor. She needed to figure out how she had gotten here, and figure out how to get back.

Hermione sprinted until her lungs burned and she found herself slowing down. It wasn't until she been skulking about for what felt like another hour till she heard anything at all.

Laughter, cheering, lots of people talking over one another and yelling. It was still far off but it was like the Great Hall in the middle of dinner. It had to be a lot of people all crammed into one place.

She didn't waste any time turning on heel to make off in the opposite direction.

Right into another person.

Something akin to the fear she felt sneaking into the shrieking shack with Harry and Ron shot through her, breath hitching she looked up into the brightest green eyes she'd ever seen in her life.

Her wand shook in her hand and she took one step backwards out of the strangers personal bubble.

It was a boy about her age. Maybe a year older. He blinked at her, as if contemplating her presence in the gaudy golden hallway she didn't belong in.

Long black hair framed his face, and he wore the most particular clothing, but certainly not too strange by wizarding standards. Black robes with vivid green stitching that matched his eye colour with some kind of plated armor across his shoulders.

"Uhm," Her voice cracked and she winced on reflex. Her heart was beating way too fast, her school uniform feeling like entirely too many layers in this humid hallway that never seemed to end despite how long she walked down it.

The boy blinked again, "How did you get in here?" His voice was like velvet, with an accent she couldn't place. He didn't sound angry, only curious. Almost like he'd found a mouse in his hamster tank.

Just a tad condescending. She bristled silently.

"You really should not be here." He added looking over her shoulder towards the sounds of what she assumed was some kind of celebration. A look of derision crossed his young features for only a second, and Hermione got the feeling it wasn't directed towards her.

He looked back at her from his slightly taller vantage point, and his gaze flickered down.

Hermione hadn't realized she was pointing her wand at him until the bright green of his eyes alighted on it.

"Are you a sorceress?" It came out hushed, like he wanted her to share a secret with him. She supposed if he had been a muggle it would have been. But Hermione could feel the magic on this boy, he wore it like a thick winter cloak around himself.

Some kind of concealment spell maybe?

Her lips parted to respond, with what she wasn't sure, but before she got a chance a boisterous voice from far behind her interrupted whatever it might have been.

"Brother!"

The boy, who had yet to introduce himself, made a hissing noise like a particularly pissed off cat. His hand shot out and snatched her wand free wrist and started tugging her back the way she had come. His luminant green eyes flashed back at her over his shoulder and he scowled with a murmured, "Mortals are slow." Hermione returned the scowl but picked up the pace anyways; the sense of urgency in his body language only confirming her previous thought that being caught here would probably not be in her best interest.

He stopped short just before a large, thick red banner that draped all the way to the carpeted floor so suddenly Hermione almost ran straight into him. He gave her a queer look and brushed the cloth aside to reveal an open archway.

Her lips parted in surprise. Well, that explained the lack of turns in the never ending hallway. There were probably more behind the numerous other red banners she had previously passed.

"Come." Was his sharp command and he tugged her again by her wrist past the drapery.

Right into a massive library. Brightly lit and gleaming with a newness that was at odds with the clearly ancient looking books housed on more shelves than she cared to count.

Her heart beat faster for an entirely different reason, despite her brain trying to convince her body to have some sense.

"Oh, Merlin." She breathed excitedly, which earned her another odd look from the boy in armor.

Hermione was lead through a winding path between shelves, up three platforms on the ground floor, a spiral staircase to the second floor walk around, and through one more concealed archway into a small hidden room.

The walls were a deep forest green, and the sudden muted color and dim light had her blinking against the contrast of the bright reds and golds of the rest of this place.

She had to admit, despite the clear association with house colors, this tiny room was a relief for her eyes. The boy let go of her without another glance and peeked back out into the grand library while Hermione rubbed her wrist.

He had a very firm grip despite his willowy frame.

"He is still following." Green eyes caught hers with a contemplative look at odds with the irritation in his voice. Pale lips turned down at the corners in a subtle frown. She got the feeling he made this face often with the way the curves and lines of his features settled easily into it.

"If you are caught here, it will not end well for either one of us. Father will assume I am responsible, and your presence here breaks numerous, strict laws." He trailed off near the end as he looked back out past the curtain.

"What should we do?" She whispered back, matching his low pitch. Deep green met warm brown, and the boy grinned with some silently won victory.

"So she speaks."

Hermione blinked, surprised.

"Stay here," He continued, the lop sided grin still adorning his lips, "I will send him off. Just-" here he gave her a serious look. "Do not deign to wander off, least you put us both in peril."

The curtain swished closed before she had a chance to say anything in response, leaving her alone in the alcove above the library.

It was round, she realized. The ceiling low, any of her professors would have had to stoop to stand here. Wherever here was. It was just tall enough for her to stand upright without issue.

The floor was covered in a variety of animal skins and furs, some were very clearly magical creatures she had never heard of. Stacks upon stacks of books were piled precariously next to the single round window against the farthest curve of the wall. A single well-used red pillow lay flat next to a pile of wax that had probably once been a candle before someone had pulled an all-nighter.

Hermione pocketed her wand, making her way further into the little nest of a room. She wondered briefly if the boy had put this place together himself; so different it seemed from everything else she had seen here. A small ball of floating magelight turned out to be the only meager source of light in the room, floating quietly between two stacks of books with titles she couldn't read.

Hermione's breath hitched as she peeked through the round window no larger than a quaffle.

Towering peaks of golden buildings rose from mountainous crags into what appeared to be raw space. A red and blue nebula forming across the sky like an imitation of the aurora borealis. She could clearly make out several planets across what probably should have been the horizon, but clearly wasn't since this place seemed to lack the several layers of atmosphere that divided earth from space. She wasn't sure if this place had a moon, or if she had caught it on its waning night, but the dark of space felt total as it lay across the city of gold.

Forget Hogwarts. This wasn't even earth.

"Oh-" She made the noise unintentionally, and somehow she sounded resigned even to her own ears. She supposed after everything in the last three years she might have gotten used to odd and inexplicable things happening out of nowhere. "-Gods." The whisper left her lips, and she sat heavily into a pile of furs to rest her forehead against the forest green wall beneath the window.

It felt cool on her skin, the entire room a pleasant contrast to the sticky humidity of the opulent and borderline gaudy feel beyond the heavy red curtain behind her.

The view outside the little round window, as she sat in this tiny circular room, the dim magelight flickering across hoards of books she had never seen let alone read, was probably the most beautiful thing she had seen in her thirteen years of life.

"Sorceress." a familiar voice hissed and Hermione had her wand in hand and pointed at the green eyed boy so fast she hadn't even given herself time to register who it was.

He rose one dark eyebrow at her as the curtain swung shut behind him, casting them both in the dim glow of magelight.

She lowered her wand with a strained sigh. This one person at least, didn't seem to be a threat; despite the tense circumstances.

"It's Hermione." She told him, he seemed to hesitate only a moment before offering:

"I am called Loki." The words hung heavily in the air between them as he seemed to be waiting for some kind of a reaction from her, and she stared blankly at the boy who shared his namesake with a fable.

He blinked slowly, whatever he had been searching for in her eyes apparently absent, and she blinked back when she remembered the title of the book she had been holding before she'd arrived here.

 _Magics of Asgard_

Oh.

Well then. That was… something, wasn't it.

Perhaps it was more than a namesake. Warm brown eyes flickered up to the window above her, contemplating.

Hermione knew the basics of Norse mythos. Loki, God of Mischief. A title she had previously reserved for The Twins. She knew some of the fable but the details were absent; something about frost giants, the brother Thor who commanded lighting and a magical hammer, and the father Odin. 'Rainbow bridge' she recalled the words out of context and wasn't really sure what it meant but knew it had something to do with Asgard, realm of the Norse Gods.

Beyond that she wasn't really sure, and Hermione knew better than to base her opinion of someone off a fable. Even if he really was Loki, God of Mischief he was about her age, and the stories had spoken of an adult. If she could deal with The Twins, she was sure she could deal with this boy.

He seemed… curious, in the very least. Certainly not the aggression she had been expecting with the way the magic on this world felt.

"Loki," She tested the name slowly, and something in the boy seemed to relax, something she hadn't realized was tense before. "Where exactly," a sweeping gesture towards the window above her, "are we?"

She only asked because she had to be absolutely certain.

"Asgard." And even though he said it with a tone of superiority that reminded her of a certain Malfoy, it also came across as rather… blunt.

"Blood hell." Hermione was not one who was prone to cursing, but right now felt appropriate. Loki's brow rose again above his luminous green eyes.

"I don't belong here" She told him, and if she sounded slightly desperate she felt it was called for.

It was outer space outside. There were waterfalls cresting over hills and falling majestically into the cavernous nothing below, beautiful golden spires rising off of mountain peaks reaching into the swirling colors of a nebula in _outer space._

If it was possible, Loki's incredulous look doubled.

"You _are_ from Midgard." He seemed to confirm to himself. He breathed out, looking off to the side where a particular stack of books rested against the wall. Hermione would bet every galleon she owned that she could guess what they were about. She didn't recognize the word he had used but she knew how to use context clues.

"A Sorceress, from Midgard. Of all the places…" He trailed off, the sound of his voice low and wondrous. Like a first year seeing the castle from the lake for the first time. When he looked back at her, the green of his eyes gleamed and he gave her a not so subtle once over.

"I could… endeavor to help you return." He hesitated again, and Hermione got the feeling he wasn't used to people really listening to him speak.

"I have little knowledge of the roots of yggdrasil that connect our worlds, it would be the only way to traverse to the mortal realm without Heimdall's notice." He sat down next to her in the large pile of furs, his voice a low whisper.

His use of the word 'mortal' made a small corner of her mind realize that this boy was, for lack of a better term, basically a magical beast. She wasn't quite ready to call him a God yet. She wasn't sure she would ever be.

"I see…" She offered, in a way that clearly said she didn't. He gave her a strange look.

"I have yet to travel there myself, the All-Father says I am young yet, and I lack the taste for battle my brother seems to have in spades," She didn't miss the note of bitterness in his voice, "but I have been studying." He gestured towards the books he had glanced at earlier as way of explanation and Hermione nodded. Research was always good before going into the unknown. She would have liked to have had the chance to do a little more herself before this unexpected jaunt into outer space.

"I-" His eyes swept away from her, as if he was about to admit something difficult, "I was under the impression that Midgard did not have knowledge of the arcane."

Hermione swallowed, and carefully replied with a similarly averted gaze. "Most people on Earth are also under that impression."

"Ah," He nodded knowingly, "A secret then."

Hermione squeaked when she found his warm hands wrapped around her own, his quick movements placing him well within her personal space in the blink of an eye.

"Why," His eyes searched hers, his voice tinged with sudden confusion, and his long hair fell forward with his momentum in an appealing way.

 _Not human_ , she automatically reminded herself.

"Would you hide such power? I feel it within you, like sun soaked soil ready to burst forth into spring- why would you hide such a thing when it would be so easy to rule over all of Midgard?"

Hermione tugged slightly on her hands, but his grip was firm and sure and she wondered at the kind of person who could so casually ask her why she didn't seek world domination just because she could.

Well… not that she _could._ There was the ministry after all, and she was pretty sure Voldemort was going for that title already. She really didn't want to have more run ins with that particular Dark Lord if she could help it.

But she got the feeling that wasn't really Loki's point.

Her jaw worked for a second, searching for the right answer as his too-green eyes pinned her in place.

"There are too many books to read?" It came out more like a question than she had meant it too, but honestly, how do you answer that kind of thing when asked in all seriousness?

Loki blinked, and sat back on his haunches. His soft leather boots wrinkling pelts beneath him.

He held out a hand to her, lips quirking crookedly in a lopsided smile. "Hermione, Sorceress of Midgard," He said with the first tinge of humor she'd heard from him. She kind of liked it, especially when his normal look seemed a bit… like Harry after a long stay with his relatives during the summer.

"I do not know how you have come to be here, but it is a pleasure." She took his hand to shake it, but he pulled her forward gently, and placed his lips across her knuckles.

They both flushed awkwardly.

"Likewise." She squeaked out, and cleared her throat slightly, only to have her attention drawn to her chest by the sound of chipping glass. Her brow furrowed and she reached into her robes to pull out the time-turner.

She was supposed to return it to Professor Mcgonagall in a few short weeks at the end of term, but looking at it now had her heart returning to its previous panicked beat.

The hourglass was cracked, and she watched as a grain of sand fell the from the seam to vanish before hitting the ground.

Hermione looked up, her new friend's name on her lips only to find he was gone.

The entire room had changed. The walls were a dull, unpainted grey, and it was empty all except for a few resident spiders spinning their homes in dark corners. One look outside of the window told her it was still the middle of the night.

If this planet even experienced night and day like Earth did.

"Loki?" She whispered anyways, hopeful.

There was no reply.

She really wanted to cry then.

* * *

It turns out, as Hermione discovered after falling asleep, too afraid to leave and wander about alone, that this planet did experience night and day cycles.

Sunlight poured in through the little window spilling across the floor to pierce her eyes lids. She was standing in a flash, wand in hand and spinning in a circle to trace the curved wall of the alcove.

It was still empty.

She lowered her wand, and stood there silently for a moment, her robes swirling about her feet with continued momentum.

"Well," she said quietly to no one. "Can't stay in here forever." With one last trepidatious look at her damaged time-turner before tucking it inside her shirt, Hermione brushed an unruly pile of bushy hair over one shoulder and made her way to the still remaining red curtain.

She peeked into the glaringly ornate library to find it much the same, and wand in hand she slipped into the room and moved along the wall.

She couldn't hear anything, but she supposed that might not mean much when she knew next to nothing about Asgardians. Loki seemed to be able to move like lightning, who's to say they couldn't also be as silent as a shadow.

Ten careful minutes later found her creeping between bookshelves on the ground floor, bottom platform.

She could leave the library, exit back into the hall; but it didn't seem like that would really do her any good. Especially when she was currently in a _library._ Her way home could very well be on any of these shelves.

Hadn't Loki said something about the roots of a tree or something? Yggdrasil, that was the tree of life wasn't it?

It was as good a place as any to start.

Except, that it turns out all the books were in old Norse, and unfortunately Hermione couldn't read old Norse anymore than she could perform translation spells.

Which begged the question of how she could communicate with Loki to begin with. Did he cast some sort of magic without her notice?

She hadn't even seen if he used a wand or not. She supposed when one was a God, one probably didn't need a wand. He had recognized hers readily enough though.

"I promise when I get back to Hogwarts it's the first thing I'll study." She said under her breath, sliding the one hundredth book she had pulled from its home back in place.

"Right then." She turned, smoothing out her robes as she thought of what to do next. She knew some simple tracking spells, she could probably locate Loki; but keeping out of sight would be more difficult. Would muggle notice-me-not charms work on Gods?

The option was taken from her as she stepped away the book case and a tiny body came hurdling around the corner fast enough to knock them both to the floor.

A little blond boy sat up on her chest, looking down at her with a gap-toothed grin. One of his front teeth was missing, and he sported a shallow gash across his cheek that was bleeding sluggishly. He was also covered in dirt as most little boys were wont to do.

"Hullo!" He said glibly, as if he hadn't just knocked her on her arse.

"Hello." She croaked in return. The boy bounced on her chest once excitedly, and then froze when a distant female voice shrieked in outrage.

" _Thor!"_

Wide blue eyes met her equally wide brown eyes. The boy was yanking her up off the floor in a flash with more strength than she would think a six or seven year old should really have.

"We must hide!" He hissed urgently, and that was all the encouragement Hermione needed before she was scooping his little self up and sprinting back up the platforms and taking two stairs at a time up the spiral staircase.

" _When your Father hears about this-"_ The banshee wailing was getting close and Hermione threw the boy over the railing he rolled to his feet just as she leapt the last couple of steps and turned to tackle him past the red curtain into the little round room that had once been (or had yet to be?) a lovely shade of forest green.

Hermione whirled on the archway wand flying through the required movements for the only notice-me-not charm she knew. It wasn't a complicated spell, but it was from the fourth year curriculum and Hermione hadn't really had the chance to try it out outside of reading about it.

Plus, as she had previously thought, she had no idea if it would work on Asgardians. Now seemed like a good a time as any, seeing as she didn't know any other spells that could help out in this particular situation.

She needs to stay hidden as much as this little boy- _Thor_ it seemed. Except that her getting caught had the chance of repercussions she couldn't even imagine. " _Your presence here breaks numerous, strict laws."_ Loki had said.

A gush of white light spewed from the end of her wand to saturate the red curtain before disappearing completely and Hermione shuddered. It wasn't really because of the spell though.

" _Silencio"_ she added with a quick flick for good measure before turning back to the little blond and sitting herself heavily onto the ground.

His blue eyes were impossibly wide. "You know magic!" He whispered so quietly she almost didn't catch it. She scooted closer to him, and his head tilted from where he sat to look up at her. "I have only ever seen my brother do magic! Mother knows some but-" He continued only to stop at the sound of harsh clicking heels entering the library.

Hermione held a finger to her lips and Thor nodded vigorously, blond hair bobbing about his head.

It was a very tense five minutes as the woman paced around below them, and Hermione's breath hitched at the first click of heels on the ornate stone staircase.

Thor fidgeted where he sat before turning impossibly blue eyes on her; blue in the way that Loki's had been impossibly green.

"If you get caught here… it will be bad." He whispered childishly. "I will return" He said a little quieter, and with a lip wobble and watery blue eyes he sprung from the floor and threw himself past the curtain.

Well, that answer the notice-me-not question.

"Thor!" The woman roared, furious and entirely too close to the red curtain as it fluttered back in place. Two sets of feet thundered away, and Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

It wasn't lost on her that the little boy Thor had just sacrificed his hiding place so that she wouldn't be discovered.

Hermione didn't leave Loki's alcove for what felt like an entire day. She was tired, and hungry and her face felt puffy from crying. She practiced pointless spells for a while. Slept some after that but found the stone wasn't very comfortable. She snuck back into the library for an entire five minutes to pilfer a familiar looking red cushion off the back of one of the reading chairs on the third tier of the main floor.

Sleep was only marginally easier to find after that. It was during one of the hours that she found herself slowly drifting out of REM sleep that she heard it.

"I'm telling you, she did magic! I saw it!" She recognized it as the little Thor's voice.

"This better not be another one of your imaginings big brother." An equally childish voice whispered back. And the curtain parted from the wall to reveal a head of blond, and a head of black hair.

"I told you! Look!" Thor exclaimed in a rush bouncing into the room to point at her no doubt grimy looking form like she was the grand prize and he had won.

With a little more grace, but no less excitement a very young Loki followed after his brother. "How did you get a Midgardian here?" He whispered, greens eyes flicking from her bushy brown hair back to his brother who was now rocking back and forth on his feet.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you are going to be in this time? This isn't some silly prank Thor! You have to send it back right now!"

Hermione bristled, "I'm a she thank you very much, and she is sitting right here!"

"Send her back" Loki corrected himself with a cautious look at her but no less force.

"I cant," Thor whispered. "I just found her here in the library, I didn't do anything, honest!" Hermione rose to her feet carefully, knees popping from her prolonged stay on the stone floor. She groaned in protest.

Both Thor and Loki gave her alarmed looks and began rapid fire talking over each other in hushed whispers.

"Thor if she is sick or injured-"

"I didn't know!"

"Can you not take care of any of your things properly?!"

"I swear brother you have to believe me-"

"Father is going to be furious-"

"Please don't tell!" Thor looked like he was on the verge of tears now, and both boys seemed to be in a panic.

" _Enough!_ ' Hermione cried startling herself and both boys as blue sparks of magic arched off her wildly frizzy hair. She continued in a whisper after throwing a nervous look at the curtain.

"Look- boys, I want to go home just as much as you want me to, but I don't even know how I got here and I'm exhausted and hungry and _filthy_ and your bickering is not helping anyone so just-" She stopped, a loss for words halfway through her short lived rant.

She really was tired.

"She is of the arcane like you see!" Thor crowed to his brother pointing at the magic that sparked off her hair, completely dismissing everything she had just said.

Loki though, was looking at her like she had been the one to make the sun rise in the morning.

He turned to his blond sibling thoughts whirling behind his green eyes. "Let's get her to my room- it's closer. Can you create a distraction? The patrols are going to be coming down the corridor any minute- pick up some food on your way back." The boys were in a flurry of movement before Loki had even stopped speaking, both of them grasping at a hand to tug her back into the too-bright library.

"Leave it to me!" And Hermione gasped as Thor leapt over the railing of the second floor walk about, landing solidly on little feet and practically flying out of the curtained archway into the hall.

"Asgardians are hardier creatures than mortals." Loki sniffed haughtily to her unasked question. Normally she would be irritated with that kind of tone, but it was sort of cute coming from the little boy who couldn't be older than five so she held her tongue. She'd explain to him what classism was later.

Or was it racism in this case? She wasn't sure- it didn't matter anyways.

"Come on, hurry up." Loki encouraged tugging on her wrist the same way his older self had. She followed quickly down to the double doors to wait with the little godling.

A loud crash sounded in the hall, followed by a _bang_ and then several pairs of what sounded like heavily armored people running beyond the archway.

"Thats our signal." Loki said more to himself than her as they slipped into the golden hall and in the opposite direction of whatever commotion Thor was stirring up.

"Quickly" Loki urged again with an irritated look up at her, like she wasn't twice his height. He was a fast little bugger though and before long she was panting in her attempts to keep up the the spry little boy.

"Humans are so slow" He complained before pulling aside a curtain that looked identical to every other one they had passed. How did anyone get where they needed to go around here?

The two of them entered a large and very grand bedroom. Decorated in much the same way that the rest of Asgard seemed to be; with rich golden walls and red fabrics.

"The baths are there" Loki said pointed to an archway to their right without looking at her. He made his way over to a tall shelf heavy with assorted books that were both old and new.

"Brother will return shortly," He stood on tiptoe with a little leap, and yanked a very large brown leather book off a high shelf. Loki plunked down onto the floor right there and cracked it open with a cloud of dust.

Hermione stood still for a moment, unsure of the situation as the little God of Mischief seemed to become engrossed in whatever he was reading. It was quiet for a minute, and with the sound of a turning page she made up her mind.

Right, bath then. Scourgify could only do so much and repeated use would only tear her uniform up. Hopefully Thor would return with food.

* * *

Loki's little hand shot out and snatched her wrist hard enough to make it ache. She dropped the apple in her hand on reflex and gave the boy a startled look only to find him glaring at his brother who looked equally startled.

"Thor, don't be foolish. You can't feed mortals Idun's apples." he berated his blond sibling.

"Why?" Thor and Hermione asked at the same time, the witch throwing the innocuous looking fruit that had rolled to the foot of Loki's bed a wary look. Was it poisoned?

The small green eyed boy gave her a haughty look. "Do you want to live forever? They are apples of immortality."

Hermione swallowed thickly. No, actually. She didn't want to live forever. That sounded… terrible actually.

"I am sorry, Lady Hermione." The wide eyed Thor told her sincerely, and she shook her head.

"No harm done." She'd just stay away from the fruit bowl and stick to the strange looking meat then. At least the bread looked normal enough.

* * *

"No, it is more like this." The young boy relieved her of her borrowed quill and with a surprising amount of dexterity he demonstrated the rune for her again. Ink flowed across his paper with sure strokes and Hermione looked over at her own attempt at scrawling Norse runes. Her handwriting looked closer to what a child of Loki's age would normally produce. It was an odd role reversal for her.

She nibbled at her bottom lip as he handed the writing utensil back, green eyes glowing with interest and confidence.

He was such an adorable little boy.

"And this one?" She tried to prompt more conversation out of him, pointing at one of the more complicated runes that he had described as 'having many and varied uses in the arcane'.

As Loki launched into a more in depth explanation on the order in which you were supposed to lay each line, and the meaning behind its uses Hermione couldn't help but feel a little excited by his own excitement with the subject. If she was honest with herself, Loki also made her feel a little validated as well; his eagerness for study and learning just as enthusiastic as hers.

It helped that he was also a patient teacher. Hermione got the feeling that very few people here held the same interests he did, and having her rapt attention seemed like a novelty to the boy.

Maybe he felt a little validated by her as well.

"Boring." Thor complained from his sprawled out position across Loki's bed. He rolled onto his side to look down at them on the floor.

Books lay in precarious stacks, used and new sheets of parchment just about everywhere surrounding the two.

Hermione was no where near being able to read any of the tomes, but at least now when she cracked them open she recognized a few of the symbols and their meanings. Though the reading and writing lesson had quickly segwayed into a discussion about runes, which Hermione knew as ancient runes.

The topic had stuck, and here they were hours later still discussing the possible uses in magic. Hermione was actually having quite a bit of fun, and if the look on Loki's face was anything to go by she'd hazard a guess that he was too.

"You could join us?" Hermione offered, trying not to sound too much like she was talking to Harry and Ron about their homework. She did get the feeling Thor could probably use to sit and do some reading though.

The look of disgust on his face confirmed it. "I want to go out." The little blond boy continued to whinge, and Loki shot his brother and irritated glance as Thor started picking apart the threads to one of his pillow cases.

"Then do so." Loki snapped. Thor just gave a dramatic sigh and slumped bonelessly like a snake off the edge of the mattress onto the floor. A stack of book teetered dangerously before settling again as he crawled over and lay flat next to Hermione's folded legs.

"Let's play a game!" He said suddenly pushing himself up onto his elbows.

Loki looked up from his paper and seemed torn for a moment; glancing longingly over to a few of the books they hadn't opened yet, and then over to his brother.

Hermione hid a smile behind her hand. Gods or not, these were still little boys.

"Alright, what should we play?" She made the decision for Loki, because they had been doing their own thing for quite a while now, and Thor had been waiting semi-patiently for them to finish.

"Climb trees!" Thor suggested with renewed enthusiasm, but Loki shook his head in the negative.

"Lady Hermione can not go wandering about." Thor deflated for a moment.

"Oh, yes of course."

Hermione looked around the large room, they had plenty of space to play a few different things from her own childhood, and of course magic always made things more interesting.

"How about hide and seek?" She suggested, and Thor stood so fast that the pile of books finally fell.

"I will be victorious!" He declared with a pointed finger at his little brother. Loki stood then too.

"Only in your wildest of imaginations brother!"

And that was how Hermione got roped into playing children's games with the two little godlings, and she wasn't afraid to admit that she actually had a lot of fun.

Loki of course won every game with his incredible use of wandless magic, right up until Thor caught on with his illusions and declared him a cheater. Which resulted in Hermione and Thor teamed up against the littler boy; they managed to win one game in the end.

Loki and Thor were good kids, Hermione decided. They had their hearts in the right place.

* * *

Hermione crawled out from underneath the large ornate bed with an absent wave at the dust in front of her face and a small cough. She scratch her nose to relieve the irritation that had built up; forcing herself to not sneeze was actually pretty difficult.

Loki looked tense, Thor seemed as obvious and jovial as he always did.

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since she'd arrived on Asgard and still the teenager and two small children seemed no closer to sending her home than they had been when her time turner had first thrown her farther back into their timeline.

She feared the day it send her too far back. Before Loki and Thor were here at all.

She couldn't repair it. She knew some simple repair spells but nothing that would fix a magical artifact that already had a slew of complicated magic on it. So instead she was very, very careful with the damaged time turner, making sure to keep it out of sight and not jostle it too often. It was more difficult than it sounded.

"We can't keep doing this." Loki told her pensively in his childish lit. Thor tilted his blond head like a confused dog.

"Mother is going to notice our behavior sooner or later." Loki said in explanation.

Hermione bit her lip, dusting off her robes absently. There weren't a whole lot of places to hide from the adults, and she hadn't left this room since they had first brought her here.

Both Loki and Thor had also hardly left, choosing to spend time with the curious oddity that had been dropped into their lives.

For Loki, it didn't seem too far out of character to be holed up in his room reading. But Thor… the boy could hardly sit still at all. It was definitely not normal, and it was beginning to attract the attention of the boy's' mother.

"Perhaps we should ask Heimdall to open the way?" Loki threw Thor an incredulous look.

"Heimdall would sooner throw her to the All-Father. She is mortal- an arcane mortal at that brother. And she has entered our realm without anyones notice, such a thing would not be treated with kindness." Hermione was still getting used to such a small child speaking like an adult, but she didn't doubt his words, small boy or not.

Loki was right, she was stagnant here; both boys much too young to know how to help but trying to do the best they could anyways. She needed to move forward in time, not backwards. Her hand reached up to touch the shape of her time turner beneath her robes reflexively. She was hesitating to use it in it's current state, but it might be better to try than to remain here. She needed to see the older Loki again, at least he had seemed to have an inkling on how to get her home.

Who knew if it would even be the right time on earth either. For all she knew she'd get back to Hogwarts and it would be the fourteenth century.

"I… might have an idea." Hermione admitted slowly, carefully without looking at the boys. If she had been, she would have seen the calculating look Loki gave her.

* * *

"Time magic?" Thor whispered excitedly. Loki's eyes were impossibly wide.

"Such a thing…" He whispered reverently, little fingers caressing across the golden dials of the artifact that was strung around Hermione's neck. "Even the All-Father has never…"

The boys shared a fearful look, seeming to silently communicate something Hermione wasn't sure she even wanted to know.

"We must never speak of this." Thor save gravely, a tone she had never heard from him in all the time she'd spent with the little boy. Loki nodded slowly in agreement.

"The All-Father would snatch her from Midgard even if my older self does manage to return her."

Blue and green eyes turned to her, and the message was clear.

"Here," Thor said in the same whisper they had been keeping as he fished around in the pocket of his tunic. He pulled out a braided leather charm and Loki gasped.

"If mother finds out-" Thor shot his brother a quelling look. He did that sometimes; small things that hinted at the prince he was.

"I will simply tell her it is lost." The blond boy turned to her again, "If you ever have need, call for us, and we come." He told her with surety. Hermione gingerly took the leather bracelet from the boy and immediately she could feel the old magic coursing through the simple thing.

Mother's Magic.

"Be well, Sorceress Hermione." Loki told her, and then with haughtiness, "I will see you soon."

Thor patted her arm with a tiny hand. "Your friendship will always be valued." He told her heartily.

"Try to stay out of trouble." She told Thor, who scowled slightly. She turned to Loki, "See you in a minute."

She turned the hourglass upside down with a soft tug on either side of its golden chains. The boys blinked and she was gone.

"You didn't tell her it works both ways." Loki told his older brother reproachfully.

Thor gave him a wide, gap toothed grin. Loki made a childish undignified snort.

"And they say I am full of tricks."

* * *

The moment the dial turned upside down- well, right side up as it were, Hermione experienced an uncomfortable lurching sensation that she was quite relieved about. This at least meant that the time turner was working like it should… sortof. Closer to how it should at least.

She blinked, adjusting to the sudden disappearance of the boys. The room was empty, but much the same as it had been… however long ago that was.

The time turner generally only allowed the user to travel a few hours ahead or behind at a time, but since the magic had been damaged Hermione had no idea what the length of time was between jumps.

Certainly not any length she would have been comfortable attempting to make on purpose. She did know it wasn't a simply three or four hours in any case. She fidgeted with the leather bracelet for a moment before slipping it over her wrist with some difficulty. It was made for a much smaller hand than hers.

Distracted, she almost missed it when the curtain to the hall was pushed aside and Hermione whirled around to greet her friend.

"Loki-"

A woman with long black hair and a pleated red skirt with overlapping full scale armor and a broad sword on her back stopped short at the sight of Hermione, and the young witch bit her tongue with anxiety.

"You aren't Loki." She said into the yawning space between them.

"No… I am not." The intimidating woman said carefully. "And what would a mortal be needing with the young prince?" Hermione's hand itched towards her wand in her breast pocket the second the woman's hand began to rise towards the hilt of her sword.

"Uhm-" Hermione said intelligently.

 _Pink_

And she had never been so relieved to hear the sound of cracking glass.

* * *

"Headmaster." Madam Pince greeted the burning image of her boss floating about in the fireplace.

"Irma," The sleepy old man greeted jovially despite the early hour, "what can I do for you?"

The library head looked over at the small red leather book that sat innocently on her desk between two precariously stacked piles of documents and assorted books she hadn't filed yet.

"You should come down, Headmaster, and have a look at this. We might have a problem." She said anxiously with a twiddle at the broach on her robes. If a student had come to be in danger in her own library… well. She trusted Dumbledore would be able to right this particular problem.

 _Magics of Asgard_ was in the restricted section for a very good reason.

Portals to alternate dimensions were not something young students should be playing around with.

"I see," Dumbledore said amicably "I will be there shortly Irma, and I'm sure all will be well."

And with a pop the fire was once again a calmly burning red.

* * *

Hermione pressed a hand flat against the time turner that lay beneath her robes with a gasp of relief. The female warrior was gone, and however far she'd traveled it was far enough that no alarms were being sounded and the room was not swamped with Asgardians.

"Hermione, Sorceress of Midgard." Came the sound of Loki's voice behind her, and once again she turned to face the inside of the room.

Loki snapped his book shut and stood, apparently the much older Loki had been getting ready for bed; dressed in his night clothes with only a ball of magelight to read by.

"Loki, Thank merlin." She greeted, relieved.

"Curious," He murmured taking a few steps towards where she stood after placing his book down on his red duvet. "Time travel, as I recall. Curious that I should remember such a thing now, when only moments before I knew you only as the girl I had met in the hall and taken to my boyhood hiding place for a brief time."

He stopped in front of her, close enough to call it within each other's personal space. His hand rose slowly, in a motion she thought seemed purposeful, giving her the opportunity to protest as he tugged the golden chain from beneath her shirt. He touched light, delicate fingers to the inscribed dial, green eyes alight with curiosity and… something else.

A hint of something twisted, something cracked. This older Loki retained nothing of the innocence he had had as a child. He was maybe nineteen or twenty now, older than when they had first met; when he had been her age.

"I blinked and you were gone, Sorceress. But I suppose you had only moved in time and not in place." His eyes turned glassy for a moment, as if he was only just now recalling memories of her from his childhood.

"I suppose you desire to return to Midgard now." He murmured, and something in his body language made Hermione tense. Something was wrong with her friend… he seemed closer to the Loki from the fables rather than the curious boy she had come to know. He looked up from the damaged magical artifact, finger absently twisting into the chain.

He looked her right in the eye when he snapped it off her neck and snatched it from the air. She gasped, her wand in her hand before he could even blink.

One small leap backwards had him out of her space and his features twisted then. Twisted into an ugly mask of spiteful humor.

Her wand arm trembled, tip pointed at the fist he held aloft with the chain dangling from between his fingers.

"Loki," She said haltingly. "What happened to you? We're friends aren't we? Please don't do this." The words tumbled from her lips before she could stop them, and they sounded more like a plea than she would have liked.

"How trite." He mocked. "Friends, is that what you think mortal?"

She had seen people sneer before, it was an ugly look on most people but Loki made it all the more menacing.

She couldn't let him have it, the time turner was dangerous.

Even if it meant risking her presence here on this world.

" _Incindio!"_

The spell exploded from her wand, enhanced by her rising emotions as she leap to the side, following Loki's own dodge as he gracefully curved around the jet of fire she had conjured. It exploded across his bed, the fabrics taking to the magiced fire like dry earth to water.

" _Petrificus totalus!"_ The next spell rocketed through the room, closing the gap of space between them; and Loki, still mid turn, didn't even see it coming.

He fell to the ground stiff as a board with green eyes that were too green glaring up at her even as he fought against her magic binding.

Hermione threw herself after the god as the drapes of his bedding began to spew fire across the ceiling. Smoke was filling the room faster than she could move and she coughed against the harsh ash that filled her lungs.

Hermione crawled over Loki's prone form, and rolled him onto his back with a bit of difficulty. He was damn near a grown man, and very heavy for it. She pried his clenched fingers open and tore the time turner from his grasp, pocketing it quickly while using her other arm to hold her sleeve in front of her face.

She turned towards the curtain blocking her view from the hall, but hesitated.

Even if he was acting like a bastard, she couldn't just leave him there. The fire was catching across his piles of books, fresh kindling for its appetite. Hermione knew of a spell to conjure water, but it was a sixth year spell, and sadly had only glaced at it in various books. It wouldn't be doing her any good here at least, as convenient as that would be.

 _Pi-_

Hermione didn't even think, didn't hesitate or stop at the first hint of sound. How she even heard it over the roar of flames she didn't know, but in that split second it didn't occur to her to wonder. He was her friend, and that meant something to Hermione at least. Her wand tip was already pointed at the Asgardian, and her mind screamed the word her lips didn't have enough time to say.

 _Finite!_

- _nk_

Later in Hermione's life when she would stand amongst friends learning the ways of wizarding war she would suddenly realize that this moment was her first time casting a silent spell.

Loki sat up, released from his bonds and wiped at the ash on his cheek with his sleeve. His grin was absolutely feral.

* * *

Hermione stumbled backwards, coughing as ash sloughed off her hair and clothing. Apparently, the space she had been standing in was already occupied in this time.

Hermione panted, taking great gulps of air, wand arm shaking.

Her wand up and threatening before she could even register the occupant in the room. She was really getting tired of this room actually.

"Lady Hermione?" A confused, and very masculine voice called, arms reaching out to steady her.

She flinched back, not quite ready yet. Her eyes rose to greet blue, so very, very blue.

"Thor." She greeted, relieved.

He didn't look anything like he had as a child, but Hermione didn't take too much stock in his appearance, adrenaline still rushing through her veins screaming fight or flight.

"Where's Loki?" Hermione asked, eyes raking across the room that bore the signs of a fire she had caused only moments before, years ago.

The was a pause from the grown man, before he answered her regretfully. "My brother has been imprisoned."

That got her attention.

Her shoulders slumped with conflicting emotions. She hadn't had enough time to process the Loki she had just seen, and to hear that he had gone far enough to warrant something like imprisonment…

For a moment, the two friends stood silently in Loki childhood bedroom and they shared mirroring expressions of regret, and disappointment.

Thor heaved a sigh, a sound that she felt didn't fit coming from him. "I am sorry, that you had to find out this way. Lady Hermione my brother has…"

But when Thor looked up, Hermione was gone.

* * *

"Miss Granger, welcome back." Hermione stumbled back once more, and quickly lowered her wand from its threatening point at her headmaster.

Madame Pince called her attention a moment later with a troubled tisking sound, the old woman's eyes raking her form.

Hermione was sure she looked a sight, covered in ash and smelling like heavy smoke.

"Headmaster, I-" Hermione began, mind whirling with events too quick to process but feeling obligated to provide an explanation. The red leather bound book he held arresting her attention a moment later.

Anything she might have had to say left her, deflated and tired she could only stare morosely at the book.

"I think it's best if you see yourself to the baths and your dorm for the evening Miss Granger; explanations can wait." Dumbledore said kindly with a knowing look in his eyes. They didn't have the same twinkle that they normally did when he looked at his students, and Hermione wondered if her little misadventure had changed her own eyes enough to warrant the adult regard.

"Right, yes. A bath... that's…" She trailed off, distracted and went to turn only to be stopped by a weathered hand on her shoulder.

"I think it would be best if you leave your time turner with me for now." The headmaster said, and Hermione nodded, pulling it from around her neck to pool it in the older man's offered open palm.

* * *

Two weeks later as the students settled into their respective cabins aboard the Hogwarts Express Ron would finally notice the thing she had been engrossed with for the remainder of their school year.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked, pointed to a leather braided bracelet that clung around her wrist. Hermione fiddled with it a bit before answering.

"It was a gift from some friends."

Ron and Harry shared a look, unaware of anyone she spent any amount of time with outside of the two of them.

On Dumbledore's request she hadn't told them about her jaunt into the alternate dimension simply known as ' _Magics of Asgard'._ The broken time turner now firmly out of her hands, and apparently only a few hours had gone by here while weeks had passed in Asgard. The whole thing had left her reeling, mind full of thoughts about what friendship really was. What it meant. And on the whole, feeling like she'd left a lot of things left unsaid. Her time in Asgard like one large loose end trailing from the fringes of her life.

And she wondered if she was foolish, perhaps too much of the Gryffindor that was her house, but she still held onto hope that if her path ever crossed with the brothers again it would be under better circumstances.

It would be a few years, but Hermione had no idea the magnitude of trouble she had already set into motion for herself.


End file.
